Vodafone Group has confirmed that UAE telco e& has increased its shareholding in the company to 15.01 percent this week.

It raises e&'s stake in Vodafone up from the 14.006 percent it previously owned.

Vodafone noted the stake sale in a London Stock Exchange filing yesterday, on the same day that Carlos Slim increased his stake in UK telco giant BT to 4.3 percent via his family investment firm.

e&, which is 60 percent owned by the UAE government, paid $4.4 billion for an initial 9.8 percent stake in Vodafone in 2022, with Vodafone saying at the time that a full takeover was not on the cards.

The company gradually grew its stake in Vodafone over the next few months.

Founded in 1976 af formerly know as Etisalat, e& serves more than 156 million customers across 16 different markets. The company launched a $250 million venture capital fund as part of its new investment unit e& capital in October.

UK telco Vodafone is still awaiting a decision on its proposed merger with Three, with a deadline set for December.